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What's happening in politics?

While there are no elections at County Hall this year in May, control of the seven district councils in Leicestershire is up for grabs, and Leicester residents will go to the polls to choose their councillors and mayor for the next four years.

And in the city the Labour party which dominates the city council are likely to get their budget through – though a handful of opposition councillors may have something to say about its priorities.

Scroll down for updates.

19:25

All done

How to sum things up?

Both the Labour-led city council and Conservative-run county council will be charging you more from April while cutting back services.

Investments next

The Lib Dem hits out at Sit Peter investing £200k in a delicatessen that then closed.

He means Delilah’s in St Martins.

Sir Peter says the investment was not in the business but the the building which he believes will be re-let very soon.

It’s slightly tetchy.

18:05

Mayor 'asleep at the wheel'

The HRA is passed

Though Coun Porter gets another dig at the mayor in saying he is asleep at the wheel while running the council

17:56

Nobody at all has mentioned council tax

Remarkably not one councillor, oppostion or Labour, mentioned this crucial fact during the debate it so we’ll fill you in.

The city council’s share of the bill from April 1 will be going up by 3 per cent.

For a band D property that’s a rise from £1,506.98 to £1,552,17.

Then there will be the police or fire service precept on top of that

17:51

Shortest budget debate for years

That’s taken about 30 minutes. These debates get shorter and shorter every year.

This is what happens when there is no significant opposition.

17:49

So to a vote....

48 Labour ayes

2 votes against (Tory Ross Grant and Lib Dem Nigel Porter)

Budget passed

17:39

More from Sir Peter....

He says councillor Porter’s intervention was ‘entirely predictable’ and that he is obsessive on certain issues.

He moves on.

He praises the council’s finance team. Director of Finance Alison Greenhill and her colleague Mark Noble are ‘astonishing’.

He says the team has guided the council through very perilous times.

17:26

A sole Lib Dem voice

Aylestone councillor Nigel Porter says the council has a difficult job with its finances but zeroes in on a grant offered to revamp a building in the Cultural Quarter where one of Sir Peter’s relatives now runs a business.

This is familiar territory for Coun Porter and his remarks draw groans from the Labour members.

He blames the last Labour Government for austerity.

And he questions the council’s decision to invest £10 million in the Haymarket shopping centre to allow Travelodge to open a hotel.

That money should be spent on council housing.

Sir Peter may respond to these points later

17:19

'Savagery of Tory cuts"

Sir Peter on his feet introducing the budget.

The Government has ‘deliberately decimated’ services that people have a right to expect from their council.

He says the Government has been obsessed with Brexit and has failed to come up with another way of funding social care.

He says that is a national scandal.

The mayor says despite what the Prime Minister says, austerity is not over.

He says there will only be an end to austerity when there is an end to this Government.

17:03

A Socialist protest

Leicester Socialist mayoral candidate Steve Score and his colleagues are protesting outside Leicester Town Hall before the city council budget meeting.

They want a ‘legal no-cuts budget’

Labour will tell you that’s not possible.

16:38

Speaking of the Lord Mayor

He’s been preparing for the meeting in an unusual fashion....

16:15Dan Martin

Budget bingo.....

Don’t expect too much political debate at Leicester Town Hall tonight.

There are only three opposition councillors - and one of those Tory Lord Mayor Ross Grant - is chairing the meeting so won’t be able to participate.

If previous years are anything to go by we’ll hear Labour councillors queuing up to put the boot into the Government after what is now nine years of austerity.

Listen out for the following phrases that usually get an airing

“Savage cuts”

“Falling off the cliff edge”

“Cruel ideological austerity”

Amy Orton

The vote...

Votes for; 35

Votes against; 18

Motion carried. Budget approved.

Now for a dash to the city council to do it all again. Stay tuned...

Amy Orton

'Continuous insults'

Coun Rhodes is rounding up now: “Opposition members complain about austerity.

“Overspending back in the 2000s caused it. Every Labour government we’ve had runs out of money.

“Imagine what would happen with a Liberal Democrat government.”

Councillor David Bill (Lib Dem) intercepts asking if we can make it through a meeting without ‘continuous insults’

Coun Rhodes continues by praising his Tory group and council staff for their hard work, crediting them with the council’s survival.”

Coun Rhodes is shouting now. “We have a council that is well managed, in financial control, it will survive anything thrown at it.

“IT IS A MAGNIFICENT ACHIEVEMENT.”

Amy Orton

Motion lost

Votes for; 18

Votes against; 35

16:05Dan Martin

Down the A50......

....Leicester City Council’s budget meeting gets underway in about an hour.

Here’s a short preview from city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby

Amy Orton

'Is buying Citroen garages more important?'

Coun Galton responding now: “The solution to this problem is driverless cars, that is what that side of the chamber is telling us. This is a pathetic response.

“It’s probably 20 years away, we’re talking about bus services now.

“I didn’t hear anything about local bus services, any response to the heartfelt emails, that he, I and other members receive.

“Is buying Citroen garages more important that providing bus services? If we can find £400,000 to mitigate HS2 we can find it for this.”

“£14-£17 per passenger is ludicrous, not just financially, but environmentally.”

Amy Orton

'Not a good use of taxpayers' money'

Coun Pain responding now.

“As Mr Boulter raised the election, I will say that I believe this election is part of an election process.

“To put it into perspective I’ll just talk about the budgets we’re dealing with, my department has saved £47m over the last four years.

“We have an expenditure of £90m - £28m of which is spent on transportation.

“Commercial bus journeys are reducing for a variety of reasons. We only subsidise six per cent of bus services, 94 per cent are commercially run.

“We are currently subsidising some routes at a rate of £14-£17 per passenger per journey. I think everyone in this room would agree that is not a good use of taxpayers’ money.

“We have put emergency injections into certain bus services to the tune of £240,000 and we need to cut that.

“We cannot support the amendment and I think there will be members who will speak in support of demand responsive transport.”

Amy Orton

'What's more important..?'

Before it’s put the vote, the Lib Dems want to amend the budget. They want the ruling Tory group to remove the £400,000 cuts to passenger transport policy.

Coun Boulter, moving the motion said: “When this saving went to cabinet, it was followed by us approving £400,000 for HS2.

“I’ve been contacted by people concerned about cuts to their bus services, this is not just about getting from A to B, it is about preventing isolation in our communities.

“Many people look forward to a trip to their market town, the shops or the doctors but people enjoy the social aspect of their journey.

“Members on the other side of the chamber say we’re going to have driverless cars, wonderful, if they think that then vote for our amendment this afternoon, it will give them time to wait for the new ways of travelling to come to fruition.

“Mr Pain [lead member for transport] says there is a revolution in transport coming, let’s wait until that happens before we pull the rug from under people’s feet.

“I wonder why we’re waiting until June, could it be because there is an election in May? When will people find out about affected routes? Will that be June too?

“What’s more beneficial buying commercial property out of the county or keeping the bus services in place?”

“This is a sticking plaster solution while what we really need is a long term strategy.

“The use of an increase in council tax to fund adult social care is, in my view, a temporary measure.”

Amy Orton

Labour leader gives her view

Councillor Terri Eynon:

“It is my responsibility to look and see what is wrong with this budget.

“There will be a gap of £20m by 2023.

“We don’t agree with buying office blocks in Lichfield and Nottingham and we have no idea why we need a Citroen dealership in Leicester City.

“We will be collecting an additional £7 a year from the most vulnerable, from people who are expected to live on £77 a week.

“Voting for this budget will bury Labour’s socialist principle, I’m afraid the Labour group will not be voting for it.”

Amy Orton

'Crossing their fingers'

Leader of the Lib Dems, Coun Simon Galton is now having his say.

“We were told that austerity had ended, it appears not in local government. Is there any end in sight? It appears not.

“We acknowledge that there is no significant service reduction, previous cuts will continue to bite though. I’m talking about special needs transport, supported bus service and the closure of childrens centres.

“There is is still £19-20m of savings yet to be made, the Conservatives acknowledge there is a problem, they are keeping their fingers crossed and hoping that the government will be more generous to Leicestershire.

“Where is the evidence of this optimism?

“There was a time years ago that a rise of 4 per cent would have been totally unacceptable to those on that side of the chamber.

“This is the costs of services being shifted on to the local taxpayer which is being done by stealth, without consultation and in the annual county council budget.”

Roads, schools and rural broadband

“We’ve had to make some very unpleasant decisions but we are better placed now than many other councils.”

Amy Orton

Capital budget

In 2015/16 the council received £56m in revenue support grant, it will get nothing in 2019/20.

Business rate retention pilot scheme will unlock £14m for the city and county - the county will be allocated £6.6m of that.

The capital programme totals £398m over the next four years. Coun Rhodes signs off by saying: “This is the county council’s largest ever four year programme, and it’s all being achieved without borrowing.”

Amy Orton

Council tax

Here it is... it is proposed that council tax rises by 3.99% - generating £12m per year to be invested in ‘supporting vulnerable people’.

£5m will support the rise in people needing adult social care

£6m will support rising number of children in care

£1m to, along with other things, ensure the county gets the best out of HS2 and ash dieback

Amy Orton

Growth

Coun Rhodes says: “Demand is increasing as are costs. We need to make savings as resources are simply not keeping up.”

Headline figures here...

Inflation = £44m with a significant proportion for national living wage

Growth = £50m with the majority going to social care

The reasons for this are children in care - the council expects there will be 600 children in it’s care by March this year. Adult social care - by 2037 the number of over 80s is set to double and the population of the county is expected to increase by 13 per cent. SEND - demand is expected to increase by 22 per cent over the next five years.